Facebook手机应用给苹果的4点启示

    Facebook手机既不是手机也不是操作系统。扎克伯格带来的是一整套可供下载的应用程序包。它将于4月12号正式发布，最初只支持少数几个型号的Android手机。售价99美元的宏达电（HTC）First有幸成为第一部Facebook手机，它将预装这个名为Home的软件包。Home系统不会替换Android，它只会对Android进行适当修改。例如：更改手机的锁屏界面和主界面，以便用户能更便捷地查看Facebook更新和通知；增加了一套名为“Chat heads”的通信机制，将Facebook消息和手机短信整合到一起。

    Facebook首席执行官马克•扎克伯格接受了《财富》（Fortune）杂志专访，在谈到Android的功能时，他说：“我们希望重塑某些核心功能。Android系统能不能更进一步？Facebook的理念是一切以人为本。”

    当然，重塑人们的交流方式正是社交网络的本分。无论Facebook Home的结局如何，是成为10亿多Facebook用户心所向往的神器，还是另一个悲剧的试验品，我们不可否认的是，扎克伯格的Home将智能手机上的社交网络带到了前所未有的高度。

    即便苹果（Apple）这样如此伟大的公司也不曾做到这一点。Daring Fireball是一家专注苹果新闻的科技博客，博主约翰•格鲁伯撰文指出，苹果最新的iOS 7系统已经落后进度了，新系统将全面彻底地更新用户界面。虽然伊夫（苹果灵魂人物，首席设计师——译注）对此胸有成竹，但为了以防万一，苹果还是应该从Facebook这里学点什么。以下是4条经验之谈：

    不要强行把桌面平台和移动平台合二为一。正像扎克伯格向《财富》所说的，Facebook没有把桌面平台的体验一成不变的带上移动平台。这条策略看来奏效了，Facebook在智能手机和平板电脑领域持续扩张。（截止今年1月，每天有1.57亿用户通过移动设备访问Facebook。）这点和苹果截然不同，看看后者去年7月发布的Mac OS X系统“美洲狮”。它融入了许多之前只有iOS具备的功能，其中有些功能看上去浑然天成，另外一些则有画蛇添足之嫌，例如为启动面板（Launchpad）应用程序单开一屏。

    Now we know: The Facebook Phone is neither a phone, nor an operating system. Instead, Zuckerberg unveiled a downloadable collection of apps, available April 12, that will be supported on select Android phones to start, including the $99 HTC First, the first device to come pre-loaded with it. Home, as the whole kit of software is called, doesn't replace Android but modifies parts of the operating system like the phone's lock screen and home screen so users can more readily check Facebook updates and notifications, and communicate with other users by way of a new unified messaging feature combining Messenger and text called "Chat heads."

    "We wanted to start off trying to rethink some of those core things," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview with Fortune, talking about Android features. "How could these be better if, instead of the current system you have, they were people-centric in all the themes that Facebook stands for."

    Of course, rethinking the way people communicate is standard for the social network. And whether Facebook Home winds up in the hands of a significant number of Facebook's (FB) 1 billion-plus members, or becomes another failed experiment, there's no denying Zuck's app offers an unprecedented degree of social on the smartphone.

    That's something even a successful company like Apple (AAPL) has yet to manage. According to John Gruber, writer of the Apple-centric blog Daring Fireball, the company's latest version of its mobile software, iOS 7, is allegedly running behind schedule but will sport a systemwide overhaul of the its interface. Ive knows what he's doing. But just in case, here are five things Cupertino can learn from Facebook this week:

    Don't force the marriage of desktop and mobile. As Zuckerberg told Fortune, Facebook on mobile doesn't closely resemble the desktop experience -- a strategy that seems to be working as the social network continues to expand its footprint on smartphones and tablets. (Indeed, 157 million Facebook users checked the social network daily via mobile devices as of last January.) That's a different approach from Apple's, which as of the release of Mac OS X "Mountain Lion" last July, saw a serious infusion of features once found solely in iOS. Some of those features feel organic, but others, like a separate screen for apps called Launchpad, seem superfluous.